Where else should I be applying?

[sheepunite]

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Briefly:

interests: health & human rights, underserved populations, health disparities, global environmental health

BA - health sciences (liberal arts); BCPM: 4.00; total: 3.93
MPH - health education/behavior and environmental health; BCPM: 3.85; total: 3.93

MCAT: 36S

top choice would be U washington, but it's a longshot. also love UNC. have UVM and OHSU down, as well. what other schools should i be looking at?

 

[DarkFark]

interests: health & human rights, underserved populations, health disparities, global environmental health

I remember that Georgetown stresses that stuff like crazy dirung their interview day, FWIW. However, numbers wise, you could likely get into a more selective school. Might make a good 'safety-type' addition.

 

[pufferfish]

Briefly:

interests: health & human rights, underserved populations, health disparities, global environmental health

BA - health sciences (liberal arts); BCPM: 4.00; total: 3.93
MPH - health education/behavior and environmental health; BCPM: 3.85; total: 3.93

MCAT: 36S


top choice would be U washington, but it's a longshot. also love UNC. what other schools should i be looking at?

no disrespect...but give me a break...

 

[sheepunite]

no disrespect...but give me a break...

?
wha?

 

[sheepunite]

no disrespect...but give me a break...

?
wha?
i'm doing this **** in a vacuum - no premed advisor. why shouldn't i be asking such a question in a place like this?

 

[pufferfish]

stats like that... your guess is as good as anybody's... your safety could be others' reaches. go make a stiff one and cool out.

 

[Oculus Sinistra]

?
wha?
i'm doing this **** in a vacuum - no premed advisor. why shouldn't i be asking such a question in a place like this?

He does that because you have a pretty good shot at almost any school you want to apply to (except the ones where you are OOS and they don't accept any OOS).

 

[sheepunite]

stats like that... your guess is as good as anybody's... your safety could be others' reaches. go make a stiff one and cool out.

dude.
got waitlisted this year.
that's why i'm asking.
didn't apply to enough schools the first time around, and didn't apply to the right sort of schools. i've discovered things about these schools only by interviewing with them, and i'm hoping that some of the people on here will have some insight into what schools are the friendliest to folks with my interests.

u of michigan (where i'm a resident) had no interest in me, and my interviews were quite hostile, b/c of my personal politics and commitments.

i ain't trying to showboat.

 

[pufferfish]

ok, there's a start there with the hostile interviews... can you explain more? how hostile was hostile? you mention personal politics... were you flagrant?

stats ain't the problem; that was all i was saying. showcase whatever you want, this is a forum.

 

[kevster2001]

Your instate schools. Also places you're interested to live in for 4 years.

for me i'm looking at schools in the big cities like LA NYU Boston and Chicago. Given my stats i have a chance at the mid-tier schools in those areas with Stanford and Harvard as reaches

 

[sheepunite]

ok, there's a start there with the hostile interviews... can you explain more? how hostile was hostile? you mention personal politics... were you flagrant?

stats ain't the problem; that was all i was saying. showcase whatever you want, this is a forum.

u of m dude asked me, because i'd included on my amcas app, under "leadership," organizing a series of awareness-raising events on campus and raising the funds to bring in a speaker from z magazine: "so, when you get patients, are you going to lecture them on everything that's wrong with the world?"

then he later told me, "you're not going to save the world."
as if i were a dewy-eyed, disillusioned bubble-gum freak.
after that, i figured, fook michigan. if they love their status quo so much, i'll go somewhere else.

 

[DrBowtie]

u of m dude asked me, because i'd included on my amcas app, under "leadership," organizing a series of awareness-raising events on campus and raising the funds to bring in a speaker from z magazine: "so, when you get patients, are you going to lecture them on everything that's wrong with the world?"

then he later told me, "you're not going to save the world."
as if i were a dewy-eyed, disillusioned bubble-gum freak.
after that, i figured, fook michigan. if they love their status quo so much, i'll go somewhere else.

Maybe they thought you haven't experienced day to day medicine?
What kind of clinical experience do you have?

 

[lorelei]

We seem to have quite a few activist types at Wash U, and it's pretty well-supported by the administration AFAIK. If you think you can manage living in St. Louis, it's probably worth an application.

 

[sheepunite]

Maybe they thought you haven't experienced day to day medicine?
What kind of clinical experience do you have?

incisive!
i have v. little clinical.
i'm trying to amend that this summer, to small effect.

interesting insight.
but he spent most of our interview telling me how i should get my head out of the clouds if i ever expect to have a family/life. i'm not naive. public health is some gritty stuff.

 

[QuantumMechanic]

u of m dude asked me, because i'd included on my amcas app, under "leadership," organizing a series of awareness-raising events on campus and raising the funds to bring in a speaker from z magazine: "so, when you get patients, are you going to lecture them on everything that's wrong with the world?"

then he later told me, "you're not going to save the world."
as if i were a dewy-eyed, disillusioned bubble-gum freak.
after that, i figured, fook michigan. if they love their status quo so much, i'll go somewhere else.

basing an opinion on a school off of a bad interview is not a good way to judge a school. there may be conservative interviewers like that one at each school, even if many other faculty at the school have much different opinions on such issues.

 

[sheepunite]

basing an opinion on a school off of a bad interview is not a good way to judge a school. there may be conservative interviewers like that one at each school, even if many other faculty at the school have much different opinions on such issues.

yeah, i know.
i should also say that the two u of m med students i know (both with similar interests in global health) aren't that happy with the school.

 

[MiesVanDerMom]

u of m dude asked me, because i'd included on my amcas app, under "leadership," organizing a series of awareness-raising events on campus and raising the funds to bring in a speaker from z magazine: "so, when you get patients, are you going to lecture them on everything that's wrong with the world?"

then he later told me, "you're not going to save the world."
as if i were a dewy-eyed, disillusioned bubble-gum freak.
after that, i figured, fook michigan. if they love their status quo so much, i'll go somewhere else.

what an a-hole. i hope you had some witty replies for him. i would have been incredulous. who actually says stuff like this? it makes me mad just thinking about it 👎 👎 😡 😡

 

[UMP]

u of m dude asked me, because i'd included on my amcas app, under "leadership," organizing a series of awareness-raising events on campus and raising the funds to bring in a speaker from z magazine: "so, when you get patients, are you going to lecture them on everything that's wrong with the world?"

then he later told me, "you're not going to save the world."
as if i were a dewy-eyed, disillusioned bubble-gum freak.
after that, i figured, fook michigan. if they love their status quo so much, i'll go somewhere else.

are you part of BAMN or were you part of that group that forced Coke off campus? I find all you looney-tune hippies on campus hilarious, but good for you for being passionate about something to make up for your privileged liberal guilt 👍 😉

 

[Schaden Freud]

Briefly:

interests: health & human rights, underserved populations, health disparities, global environmental health

BA - health sciences (liberal arts); BCPM: 4.00; total: 3.93
MPH - health education/behavior and environmental health; BCPM: 3.85; total: 3.93

MCAT: 36S

top choice would be U washington, but it's a longshot. also love UNC. have UVM and OHSU down, as well. what other schools should i be looking at?

With those stats- you'd be lucky to get into Ross...

 

[nycpizza]

Clinical experience is uber important. People get so worked up about gpa and mcat that they often forget med schools really value how much clinical exposure you've got. Def add some to your EC and it will greatly improve your chances, me thinks. 👍

 

[diosa428]

Ucsf

 

[sheepunite]

are you part of BAMN or were you part of that group that forced Coke off campus? I find all you looney-tune hippies on campus hilarious, but good for you for being passionate about something to make up for your privileged liberal guilt 👍 😉

lol.
i did my grad work at u of michigan.
undergrad elsewhere.

and i'm thoroughly working class.

 

[kirexhana]

if you wanted global health, i remember cornell, wash u and vanderbilt mentioning they have strong programs that support students in studying international health.... dunno if that helps too much.

 

[JohnHolmes]

Briefly:

interests: health & human rights, underserved populations, health disparities, global environmental health

BA - health sciences (liberal arts); BCPM: 4.00; total: 3.93
MPH - health education/behavior and environmental health; BCPM: 3.85; total: 3.93

MCAT: 36S

top choice would be U washington, but it's a longshot. also love UNC. have UVM and OHSU down, as well. what other schools should i be looking at?

Duke.

We are starting an IFMSA chapter here, and have an extraordinarily active global health curriculum and interest group. Courses in the Spring take studens to Haiti for a week, school sponsored trip in the summer to MX for health clinics. During your 2nd year, you can do international rotations in W. Europe and East Asia, soon to be expanding (via IFMSA above). Half of our first year class is enrolled in the spanish speaking practice course group (also called "doctor patient illness" elsewhere). They differentiate instruction across all abilities from no background to native speaker.

Duke students are tremendously active in community service. Our class of 400 performed over 7500 hours of community service last year, which much going unaccounted for (not reported officially by the students who forgot to fill out the form).

I'd like to plug for the AMA here, which has a very very active chapter. We have partnered with AMSA and the SNMA to do some truly wonderful things. We are also politically active, as AMSA last year and the AMA this year have gone to the state Capitol, organizing a state-wide campaign to increase access to the uninsured.

Please, come to Duke.

 

[sheepunite]

if you wanted global health, i remember cornell, wash u and vanderbilt mentioning they have strong programs that support students in studying international health.... dunno if that helps too much.

great - thanks for the recommendations. i'll check them out.
🙂

 

[sheepunite]

Please, come to Duke.[/QUOTE]

that sounds great.
duke is another school that rejected me post-interview, but i loved the school, and i'll be applying again this june.

 

[DropkickMurphy]

interests: health & human rights, underserved populations, health disparities, global environmental health

Seriously or are you just saying that because those are what everyone says ADCOM's want to hear?

 

[sheepunite]

Seriously or are you just saying that because those are what everyone says ADCOM's want to hear?

in my experience, that's not what adcoms necessarily want to hear.
but, yeah, it's true.
it's hard to go through a school of public health and not come out deeply interested and invested in those issues. but that's always been my orientation. i'm looking for schools that won't be hostile to such pursuits.

 

[Thundrstorm]

I discussed similar interests in my secondary essays and interviews. Only one interviewer called me idealist, but then after bantering back and forth for 20 or 30 minutes, he told me I could change the world if I wanted to and he had just been testing me. This was at Northwestern, which doesn't have the best resources for that kind of thing, but anyway, I feel that I will be supported in my interests there. Other places that provided positive feedback on my interests were UWash, Maryland, and Cornell. NYU has a Global Health initiative that I unfortunately didn't hear much about at my interview. Also, Harvard has a great public health school right on the med school campus, and I imagine that they have awesome opportunities there.

 

[DropkickMurphy]

it's hard to go through a school of public health and not come out deeply interested and invested in those issues. but that's always been my orientation. i'm looking for schools that won't be hostile to such pursuits.

Eh, I doubt that (in regards to your first point). I've gone through a lot of classes in various topics and have not come off being more interested in most of them. But if that's what give you your jollys then I doubt you'll find a med school that will prevent you from dealing with those patients and those areas of concern. At very least you won't have to worry about me competing with you for exposure to those topics.

 

[sheepunite]

Eh, I doubt that (in regards to your first point). I've gone through a lot of classes in various topics and have not come off being more interested in most of them. But if that's what give you your jollys then I doubt you'll find a med school that will prevent you from dealing with those patients and those areas of concern. At very least you won't have to worry about me competing with you for exposure to those topics.

presumably, you wouldn't put yrself through an MPH program if you *weren't* interested in issues of access and equity.

 

[DropkickMurphy]

True, but I was under the impression you can do an MPH with an emphasis in epidemiology which interests me. Personally the access and equity side of things don't even register on my radar for the most part.

 

[paradisedoc]

UCLA/Drew is specifically for those interested in working with underserved populations and UCLA also has a school of public health on the health sciences campus at UCLA so that may be a good option. UCLA says that they don't give preference to California residents (both in their literature and when you interview there) so it seems like that may be an option (if you dont mind living in Los Angeles for four years).

 

[Law2Doc]

u of m dude asked me, because i'd included on my amcas app, under "leadership," organizing a series of awareness-raising events on campus and raising the funds to bring in a speaker from z magazine: "so, when you get patients, are you going to lecture them on everything that's wrong with the world?"

then he later told me, "you're not going to save the world."
as if i were a dewy-eyed, disillusioned bubble-gum freak.
after that, i figured, fook michigan. if they love their status quo so much, i'll go somewhere else.

How you comport yourself in the face of adversity is a tried and true interview technique. The fact that this became a "hostile" situation (as well as the fact that you are apparently going to be a reapplicant despite stellar stats) suggests that you may want to seriously re-examine your technique. Making nice for a one hour interview isn't really selling out to the status quo -- it's just common sense. Good luck.

 

[DropkickMurphy]

How you comport yourself in the face of adversity is a tried and true interview technique. The fact that this became a "hostile" situation (as well as the fact that you are apparently going to be a reapplicant despite stellar stats) suggests that you may want to seriously re-examine your technique. Making nice for a one hour interview isn't really selling out to the status quo -- it's just common sense. Good luck.

Thank you counselor. LOL

 

[HemaOncoDoc]

dude.
got waitlisted this year.
that's why i'm asking.
didn't apply to enough schools the first time around, and didn't apply to the right sort of schools. i've discovered things about these schools only by interviewing with them, and i'm hoping that some of the people on here will have some insight into what schools are the friendliest to folks with my interests.

u of michigan (where i'm a resident) had no interest in me, and my interviews were quite hostile, b/c of my personal politics and commitments.

i ain't trying to showboat.

Apply early. That may or may not have been the problem last time. Great stats, btw.

 

[sheepunite]

How you comport yourself in the face of adversity is a tried and true interview technique. The fact that this became a "hostile" situation (as well as the fact that you are apparently going to be a reapplicant despite stellar stats) suggests that you may want to seriously re-examine your technique. Making nice for a one hour interview isn't really selling out to the status quo -- it's just common sense. Good luck.

lol.
thanks.
i applied in october.
i didn't let it become hostile, but my interviewer was clearly on the rampage. he kept unsuccessfully trying to goad me into something. it was bizarre. anyway.

 

[HemaOncoDoc]

lol.
thanks.
i applied in october.
i didn't let it become hostile, but my interviewer was clearly on the rampage. he kept unsuccessfully trying to goad me into something. it was bizarre. anyway.

Get your AMCAS in early and your secondaries in August and September. That should help since there will be fewer applicants at that point and you'll be ahead of the August MCAT takers.

 

[Law2Doc]

lol.
thanks.
i applied in october.
i didn't let it become hostile, but my interviewer was clearly on the rampage. he kept unsuccessfully trying to goad me into something. it was bizarre. anyway.

Given that you described it above as a hostile situation, sounds like he was successful. If he was doing what I think (rather than just being abrasive normally, which is always possible), it's called a stress interview. Not usually used in med school interviews but happens all the time in the law and corporate world. How you handle it is what's important -- can you defuse the situation or will you get flustered.

 

[sheepunite]

Given that you described it above as a hostile situation, sounds like he was successful. If he was doing what I think (rather than just being abrasive normally, which is always possible), it's called a stress interview. Not usually used in med school interviews but happens all the time in the law and corporate world. How you handle it is what's important -- can you defuse the situation or will you get flustered.

erm.
i didn't get flustered.
i humored him.
and if he was putting on an act, he was better than gielgud.
mostly, he spent out interview taking my application personally and trying to explain to me how upset he was with the nytimes and judith miller, how he'd started out idealistic, but how, ultimately, he needed to pay his bills.

 

[DropkickMurphy]

erm.
i didn't get flustered.
i humored him.
and if he was putting on an act, he was better than gielgud.
mostly, he spent out interview taking my application personally and trying to explain to me how upset he was with the nytimes and judith miller, how he'd started out idealistic, but how, ultimately, he needed to pay his bills.

Apparently you've never studied interview and interogation techniques. Here's hoping you never wind up a suspect in a crime.

 

[sheepunite]

Apparently you've never studied interview and interogation techniques. Here's hoping you never wind up a suspect in a crime.

i'm always too honest in interview situations.
need to learn the art of subterfuge and/or ninjitsu.

 

[Law2Doc]

need to learn the art of subterfuge and/or ninjitsu.

More like Sun Tsu and the Art of War. 🙂

 

[sheepunite]

True, but I was under the impression you can do an MPH with an emphasis in epidemiology which interests me. Personally the access and equity side of things don't even register on my radar for the most part.

this is true.
but a lot of the epid faculty you encounter in any MPH program will be interested in these issues . . . anyway. but you're right, now that i consider my colleagues: a fair number of folks getting their MPHs are interested in other issues.

 

[MrJordan]

A couple of things:

1st, I'm in a similar situation. My application had virtually no clinical experience, but I've been working with underserved populations for a while (Teach For America in the Bronx, then a while working at a City College helping develop a curriculum for a Bioscience program that serves traditionally neglected urban populations). Along my interview trail, I found that UChicago and Cornell were both particularly interested in this part of my application. UChicago even offers a pre-orientation course on disparities in healthcare.

2nd, in regards to your hostile interview, that may or may not have been intentional just to see how you handle it. Activists and pre-meds tend to be pretty... intense. Some interviewers will go right for the throat and see how freaked out you get. My Cornell interviewer more or less told me that he didn't want to admit students like me because we're just going to take our MD, go work for the government, and never treat patients. At another school, my interviewer repeatedly told me that he didn't believe I wanted to be a doctor.

Anyway, keep in mind that you're there specifically to defend and promote yourself as a medical school candidate. These folks may very well want to let you in (I'm going to Cornell in the fall), but they're going to make you work for it.

 

[zimmie256]

A couple of things:

1st, I'm in a similar situation. My application had virtually no clinical experience, but I've been working with underserved populations for a while (Teach For America in the Bronx, then a while working at a City College helping develop a curriculum for a Bioscience program that serves traditionally neglected urban populations). Along my interview trail, I found that UChicago and Cornell were both particularly interested in this part of my application. UChicago even offers a pre-orientation course on disparities in healthcare.

2nd, in regards to your hostile interview, that may or may not have been intentional just to see how you handle it. Activists and pre-meds tend to be pretty... intense. Some interviewers will go right for the throat and see how freaked out you get. My Cornell interviewer more or less told me that he didn't want to admit students like me because we're just going to take our MD, go work for the government, and never treat patients. At another school, my interviewer repeatedly told me that he didn't believe I wanted to be a doctor.

Anyway, keep in mind that you're there specifically to defend and promote yourself as a medical school candidate. These folks may very well want to let you in (I'm going to Cornell in the fall), but they're going to make you work for it.

How did you handle that? Did you eventually get accepted there?

 

[sheepunite]

How did you handle that? Did you eventually get accepted there?

i was told the same thing, in so many words, by UNC. and it turned into a really productive and helpful conversation - my best experience interviewing, yet. my interviewer wanted to know why i wasn't interested in law or policy, instead, which led us into an almost socratic interchange. it would've been hard to get through had she not been ready to dialogue with me, though.

 

[MrJordan]

How did you handle that? Did you eventually get accepted there?

Not particularly well, I guess. I didn't get in. I offered a shmorgasboard of reasons (mostly because I was worried about just summarizing my personal statement). It's probably better to present a short, sharp, cogent few lines of argument. However, my cousin (who was accepted at this school) faced the same repeated hounding and also stumbled around his answers.

 

[sheepunite]

A couple of things:

1st, I'm in a similar situation. My application had virtually no clinical experience, but I've been working with underserved populations for a while (Teach For America in the Bronx, then a while working at a City College helping develop a curriculum for a Bioscience program that serves traditionally neglected urban populations). Along my interview trail, I found that UChicago and Cornell were both particularly interested in this part of my application. UChicago even offers a pre-orientation course on disparities in healthcare.

thanks for the advice.
based on a number of folks' responses, i'm looking seriously at cornell now.
cheers to you for taking the time off to gain the necessary experience and reapply.